Pretoria – Science and Technology Minister, Naledi Pandor, has challenged participants of the National Science Olympiad Awards to add to the list of inventions that South Africa is known for.
Speaking at the 50th National Science Olympiad Award Ceremony, in Johannesburg on Thursday, the minister said there was much to be proud of in South African science.
“We boast a long list of impressive inventions - from early tools for collecting, cutting up and storing food, to traditional medicines, horse-drawn vehicles, medical apparatus, attack helicopters, vuvuzela horns and articulated dump trucks.
“We are particularly renowned for breakthroughs in the medical field, which include heart transplant procedures and the development of the computer axial tomography (CAT), which led to breakthroughs in X-ray scanning.
“Many South African inventors have produced products that improve the quality of life of rural people in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa,” said the minister.
Examples include the EEZE bicycle-powered water pump, Hippo Drum and Q Drum, the lifeline self-powered radio, the turbo-spiral solar heater, the suncatcher solar cooker, the mobi-morgue and the solo-mobile water heater.
“I challenge winners and participants here this evening to lengthen the list of inventions for which South Africa is known,” she said.
A lesson that the country has learnt through the innovation programmes is that invention is only a small part of innovation.
“Having a bright idea for something that is new, unique and useful is not enough. True innovators are people who have the courage and determination to take their idea to the market place,” she said.
South Africa has made a disproportionate contribution to technological innovation worldwide, considering its relatively small economy, yet the country is still highly dependent on foreign technology in many fields.
“We are building stronger partnerships within industry; higher education institutions and government to further develop our country’s technological innovation.”
The minister congratulated the winners of the olympiad as well as the teachers who provide advice and support to students.
She said the olympiad was much more than a science and biology exam competition - it also identified talent that teachers have nurtured in schools across the length and breadth of the country.
“The olympiad stimulates interest in science among young people. It encourages young people to become scientists and so in a very real sense the olympiad shapes lives.” – SAnews.gov.za
